Pete, 15 yo Andalusian
Stallion
02-29-08
Pete had
serious runaway toes on both front feet when we started. He had
NO solar concavity; in fact, the sole area under the coffin bone was
convex. AAACCCKKK!!! Looking at the imprint of his coffin
bones on the bottom of his feet was seriously scary. As much as
I wanted to bring that toe back, I felt that I had to do so
cautiously, leaving him an edge of wall to help lift P3 off of the
ground until he could push more sole forward. His bars looked
laid over, but he was so flat-footed I left that as well. He is
only a little tender footed on hard ground, and moves beautifully in
the soft arena. Horses, like people, have a wide range of pain
tolerance...this horse must have an extremely high tolerance.
I first trimmed Pete mid-February; four weeks later, he is finally
starting to show some depth at the frog apex. His left front is
considerably healthier than his right. In the sole shot 03-14
below, you can still clearly see the discolored sole under P3.
But in order to stop the dorsal wall from being pulled away from the
coffin bone, we have to stop the leveraging of the wall. Since
the sole was starting to flake out on its own, I made the decision to
roll his toe back all the way. I also pared back the overlaid
bar, which was loose and starting to chip out on its own as well.
Pete is a
classic "easy keeper". He is obese, but eats nothing but bermuda...this
is an insulin resistant horse.
(Note to self to take conformation pics!) He is starting to go
back to work, and seems to be losing pounds quickly. If he were
a more delicate sort of horse, chances are good he would have
foundered badly by now. Hopefully his otherwise sturdy
constitution will help us turn these feet around fast!
05-16-08
First of
all, please pardon my not-so-pretty trim on Pete...his past is a
little checkered, and he gets lots of latitude if he decides he needs
his foot back; I also try to keep his trims BRIEF, so my bevel is not
rounded, I would like to take a bit more heel, and I might have
cleaned up bar/sole more (but hey, it's prettier than his previous
trims!) But...we still managed a good trim this time, and he is
looking better. Still lots of white line separation, although
his flaring is much less pronounced. Frogs looking much
healthier!
06-20-08
We're on the
verge of shedding out big chunks of sole at the toe, finally!
Still lots of separation, but we're a long way from growing out that
dorsal flare still.
07-18-08
Some pretty
spectacular changes. Pete finally let go of the toe caps he'd
been hanging on to, and I was able to take his toes back considerably.
The proportions of his front feet are changing, and his frogs are no
longer stretched forward. He is no longer growing a lot of bar
between trims.
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